Your ‘Titanfall’ Questions Answered

Your Titanfall Questions Answered

Early last week, we went hands-on with Titanfall, and we liked what we played...a lot. And very soon it will be general gamers' turn to try out the title as part of the closed beta.
But, since not everyone will get in, we thought we'd take this opportunity to share any and everything we learned about the game. Like most gamers, we had a lot of questions about Titanfall going in, and our hands-on time with the game answered almost of all of them. We found out what makes the game unique, what works, and what doesn't work.
It should also be mentioned that there is plenty of time for some elements to change or improve before the game's launch, so keep that in mind. Now onto the answers.

Modes

Question: What modes does Titanfall offer?
Answer: We saw three modes in total:

Attrition — a points-based mode where the teams work to hit a threshold by killing any opponents. The more difficult the target (A.I. opponents < Pilots < Titans) the more points towards the score.

Hardpoint Domination — capture and hold three points on the map. Holding a point increases a team's score, and both teams are working towards a total.

Last Titan Standing — Titans vs. Titans only. The goal is to eliminate every enemy Titan to win a round, and the first team to win 4 rounds takes the game. Even though a player's Titan is destroyed they still get to fight as a Pilot until they are killed.

Titan Types

Question: What different Titan types are available?
Answer: Unfortunately, we only had access to the basic Atlas model of Titan. The Atlas is plenty agile and tough, and it has a core ability called Damage Core, which increases the mech's damage for a period of time. Players unlock core abilities by eliminating opponents.
We do know that there are at least two other Titan types, the Ogre and the Strider, but they were not available to us during the preview. There may also be more Titan types, but Respawn Entertainment has yet to detail them if there are.

Map Size

Question: Is the larger map size a factor for Pilots?
Answer: Pilots are extremely agile and fast, so the larger map size is a non-issue. It's easy to get from one end of a map to the other thanks to the double jump, wall run, and unlimited sprint. What's better is that there is little risk of spawning and instantly dying.
[NOTE: We only had access to two maps: Angel City and Fracture. There is a third known map called Lagoon, but it was not included as part of our preview.]

Gameplay Balance

Question: Are the Pilots and Titans balanced?
Answer: Yes and no. While the Pilots each have their own dedicated anti-Titan weapon (we saw three different options), they are no match when going toe-to-toe with the giant mechs. That being said, the Pilots are quick enough to double jump and wall run their way out of a Titan's line of sight, and there are plenty of nooks and crannies peppered on the Titanfall battlefields.
Additionally, although Titans can make quick work of Pilots, most will focus on the enemy Titans, as those pose a bigger threat and can do much more damage. So, while the Titans are fighting each other they are totally vulnerable to Pilot attacks.

Customization Options

Question: What customization options are there?
Answer: Both Pilots and Titans have their own separate loadouts that are fully customizable. Pilots have several different primary and secondary weapon options, as well as a tactical ability (e.g. cloaking), an anti-Titan weapon, and two items in their kit. Kits are basically perks: tiny advantages to make a Pilot unique. Titans have several primary weapon options as well, but no secondary weapon. Instead each Titan gets a back-up attack that usually involves a missile barrage of some sort. They also have a tactical ability, like the Vortex Shield, and their own kit.
Customization doesn't unlock until level 10 in Titanfall, and players continue to earn new weapons, kits, and abilities as they progress. That being said, there weren't a tremendous amount of options at our disposal and we honed in on our favorite pretty early on.

Comparison

Question: How does it compare to other multiplayer shooters?
Answer: A lot of Titanfall's mechanics and "feel" will be familiar to any multiplayer veteran, but the experience is still uniquely its own. The Pilot gameplay has flashes of Call of Duty in the way the gunplay works and the quickness with which enemies drop, but it also has airs of Halo with its faster pace and unconventional movement options. Not to mention most of the modes we saw were riffs on old standards (i.e. deathmatch and domination).
The Titan gameplay takes a lot more time to get used to, but it's still, at its most basic, FPS-based combat. Yes, there are different abilities and attacks at the player's disposal, but you're still aiming down the sights and firing your primary the majority of the time. There are just some added attacks, and a dash, to make sure you feel like you're piloting a mech.

Story

Question: Are there any hints towards the story?
Answer: There are pre-match pieces of dialogue and the tutorial has some narrative trappings, but that's the closest we got to seeing Titanfall's story. Even the post-match extraction doesn't lead to any additional story beats. We know there are narrative elements to the game, but we didn't see any during the multiplayer matches - the map loaded up and we were off.

A.I. Usefulness

Question: How useful are the A.I. opponents and teammates?
Answer: If we are talking about the grunts (basic A.I. infantry) and spectres (A.I. robots with rocket launchers) than the A.I. seen in our hands-on time was pretty bad. Oftentimes, I found myself dropping in on a pack of grunts and wiping them out with little resistance. Sure, the grunts and spectres fire back, but they aren't what you would call smart, or all that helpful.
On the flip side, the Titan A.I., which is controlled via cloud server, is more than competent. Each Titan can be put into 'Defend' or 'Guard' mode anytime the Pilot is out of the cockpit, and during that time the Titan will attack any enemies that come into their line of sight, take cover when damaged, and, best of all, earn the player points. These A.I.-controlled Titans fight like they are actual players, and that's all you can ask for.

Player Count

Question: Is the limited player count noticeable?
Answer: While there is no shortage of enemies and teammates on the battlefield at any one time, players will certainly notice the difference between engaging a real life and an A.I. opponent. It will take time to find a real life Pilot (obviously the same can't be said for the hulking Titans), as most are trying their best to stay hidden, and it's only clear that they are a player once you see how they move on the battlefield. But it's important to engage Pilots more than other enemies.
For starters, killing a real life Pilot or Titan earns the player more points, which help the team's score and decrease the player's time to titanfall. But, to be honest, it's more exciting to take-on a real life Pilot as they will use every tool at their disposal, both weapon and movement-based, to try and take you out. The firefights between Pilots are often short-lived — Pilots don't have a lot of health — but they are just as unique and engaging as those between Titans.

Conclusion

While these are some of the more pressing questions we had going into our preview of Titanfall, there is still plenty more to learn about the game. So, feel free to ask any questions about Titanfall in the comments below and we will answer them, provided we actually know the answer. Again, our time was limited and Respawn Entertainment wasn't ready to show off the entire game.
Also make sure to read our hands-on preview of Titanfall to get a general sense as to how the game is set up and how it plays.
And follow Anthony on Twitter @ANTaormina

12 Comments

Wow this is looking amazing. I’m a big PS4 fan but I’m not afraid to say this is going to be an epic game. It’s no wonder why it’s the most wanted and hyped next gen game on any system and rightfully so. Man do I wish we got this on PS4 as my pc can’t run it. But like many others I’m going to buy an xbox one for this and it’s other exclusives. Cheers!

well if you ever played brink it works well if you have smart teammates but on the of chance you you get slaughtered with smart AI. though im sure killing AI pilots will give less rewards as opposed to killing an actual player

You didn’t explain anything that was not provided to you via the carefully crafted standard and very limited information that EA apparently gave everyone across the whole internet.

There is actually very little information on what this game can and cannot do.

Are you really telling us that there is no positional damage, directional damage, limb damage etc, destructible environment, and countless other modern features that should be a given in a game like this especially a full-priced AAA title, in particular one featuring mechs? Even as far back as 1998 mech games were aware of where they were taking damage and it would affect your mech dynamically.